What does truly exist? Making sense of the reality Subject literature and useful sources Nigel Warburton, Philosophy.The Basics – very simple one Reason and Responsibility. Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy, (ed.) J. Feinberg, R. ShaferLandau, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003 or other editions. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, S. Blackburn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. http://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Philosophy – main branches Ontology (Gr. Onthos – being, that what exists), the philosophical study of being; it studies the concepts that relate to becoming, existence, reality; also the problem of subject and object, time and space, necessity and possibility Metaphysics = ontology + the assumption of a transcendent reality and the claim that everything that exists serves the general, higher purpose Epistemology (Gr. Episteme – knowledge) the study of the nature of knowledge, justification and the rationality of belief First quests for principles - presocratics • • • • • • Physis – nature, physical reality Arché - principle Logos – logic,order Kosmos – the universe where chaos was replaced logos, i.e. rational order) First ontological theory of reality took the element of water as an arche– essential element of reality and source of life; (Tales of Miletus VII/VI B.C.) From mythical or magical to rational The infinite as source and principle Apeiron – “that which has no boundaries, the boundless, unlimited”; Anaximander (VI BC) Everything arises from the infinite that process is cyclic, everlasting, timeless and aimless All is number The first principle is definite; everything has its boundaries, proportions (Gr. peras – limit, boundary) Pythagoras (VI/V BC) and Pythagoreans Everything in the universe can be described/represented by a proportion; „all is number”, all things are numbers” Exception from the principle of definite: infinite numbers (mad numbers!) Life is energy All things are an exchange of fire Heraclitus (VI BC), "everything flows"; “one cannot step twice into the same river” Change as necessary element of reality Identity, sameness exists only in our thoughts The basic law of logic A=A exists only as an abstract idea perceived by our minds; one cannot encounter sameness in empirical reality Unity of being and thinking Parmenides – the founding father of ontology (VI BC) and Eleatics Being (that what exists) as the broadest philosophical category and concept Being cannot be born and cannot die. It is one, unchanging and perfect. It doesn’t move and it cannot be divided Sources of rationalism „neither could you know what-is- not (for that is impossible), nor could you point it out” „whatever can be spoken or thought of necessarily is” (On Nature) Knowledge about reality is independent from the content of sensory data Being is intelligible Intelligibility – what can be comprehended by the human mind Theory of ideas – an ambitious ontological project Plato (428/427-348 BC) Ideas (Gr. form) – entities that are eternal, changeless, and in some sense paradigmatic for the structure and character of our world. Idea – Thought - Matter Idea of Goodness Idea of Goodness as the highest principle Metaphor of the sun Metaphor of the cave Truth – Good – Beauty „patricide of Parmenides” – non-being is possible as a negation of being A and non-A; dialectics and dialectical method Excerpt from Plato’s Republic This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed." Reality does not conform to general principles Sofists’ relativism and skepticism Protagoras V BC: "Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not" Gorgias of Leontini V/IV BC – argument „on the non-existent” Arguments of Gorgias 1. Nothing exists. 2. Even if something exists, nothing can be known about it. 3. Even if something can be known about it, knowledge about it can’t be communicated to others. 4. Even if can be communicated it cannot be understood. „How can anyone communicate the idea of color by means of words since the ear does not hear colors but only sounds?” Metaphysics - a waste of time? Contingency of reality (e.g. Richard Rorty) Metaphysics is a waste of time Better to think about practical problems, e.g. society, politics.